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JOSEPH  LE  CONTE 


The  University  of  California 

Magazine 

Volume  VII  SEPTEMBER,  1901  No.  5 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE. 
The  Measure  of  Our  Love  for  Him. 

by  wm.  e.  ritter 

He  is  gone  beyond  the  reach  of  our  voices. 
A  mysterious  love  that  uutil  now  we  did  not  know 
We  would  tell  him  but  cannot. 

Tell  him!     Love  that  bindeth  beyond  the  grave  is  not  told  ! 
Such  love  tilleth  into  rich  fruitage 
The  seeds  of  his  immortality  to  whom  it  goeth  out — 
Seeds  planted  by  his  own  hand 
In  the  eager  soil  of  other  lives — 
And  so  uttereth  itself. 


THE  GREATNESS  OF  JOSEPH   EE   CONTE. 

BY  THOMAS   R.    BACON. 

TT7HEN  the  news  came  to  us  that  he,  whom  we  all  loved, 
^  ^  the  great  teacher  and  good  man,  had  passed  from  "the 
utmost  bound  of  the  everlasting  hills"  he  loved  so  well  into 
the  immediate  presence  of  the  eternal  verities  in  which  he  had 
already  so  largely  lived,  no  one  could  feel  a  real  regret  that 
so  fitting  a  life  was  so  fittingly  ended.  The  history  of  the 
University  of  California  has  not  been  an  untroubled  one. 
There  have  been  times  of  tumult  and  dispute.     But  across  it 


2o8  The  University  of  California  Magazine. 

all  there  runs  one  straight,  shining  line  of  white,  the  path  un- 
swervingly trodden  out  by  the  blameless  feet  of  Joseph  Le 
Conte.  He  had  the  power  of  inspiring  reverence  and  aflfec- 
tion  even  in  those  who  scarcely  knew  him.  Men  had  only  to 
enter  into  the  sphere  of  his  transmuting  influence  to  love  him, 
and  to  be  better  for  that  love.  His  mere  presence  was  peace. 
The  "good  gray  head  which  all  men  knew"  was  a  luminary 
with  healing  in  its  radiance,  a  radiance  which  transfigured 
those  upon  whom  it  fell.  Why  there  was  such  saving  power 
in  the  man,  it  is  not  hard  to  tell.  His  great  knowledge  was 
added  to  the  simplicity  that  is  found  in  the  heart  of  a  child. 
He  was  one  of  the  pure  in  heart,  who  see  God.  He  was  a 
great  scientist,  he  was  a  great  philosopher,  but  we  know  that 
he  was  greater  in  another  way, — he  kept  unsoiled,  unstained, 
that  little  part  of  the  life  of  God  which  came  to  him  at  his 
birth,  and  with  the  faith  of  a  little  child  he  walked,  unspot- 
ted, from  the  world. 

The  apparent  chasm  between  his  traditional  faith  and  the 
discoveries  of  modern  science  interested  him  greatly,  but 
troubled  him  not  at  all.  For  the  help  of  those  who  were 
troubled  thus,  he  sought  to  impart  to  others  what  was  his 
own  clear  vision  of  these  things.  What  Longfellow  said  of 
another  great  geologist  might  well  have  been  spoken  concern- 
ing him: 

And  Nature,  the  old  nurse,  took 

The  child  upou  her  kuee, 
Saying,  "Here  is  a  story-book 

Thy  father  has  written  for  thee." 

"Come,  wander  with  me,"  she  said, 

"Into  regions  yet  untrod. 
And  read  what  is  still  unread 

In  the  manuscript  of  God." 

And  he  wandered  away  and  away 

With  Nature,  the  dear  old  nurse, 
Who  sang  to  him  night  and  day 

The  rhymes  of  the  universe. 


Reminiscences  of  Joseph  Le  Conte.  209 

And  whenever  the  way  seemed  long, 

And  his  strength  began  to  fail, 
She  would  sing  a  more  wonderful  song, 

Or  tell  a  more  wonderful  tale. 

So  she  keeps  him  still  a  child 
And  will  not  let  him  go: — 

but  she  had  to  let  him  go  at  last.  The  Father  himself  stooped 
down  and  took  the  child  from  the  nurse's  arms.  And  now 
we  sorrow  most  of  all  for  this,  that  we  shall  see  his  face  no 
more.  And  we  are  glad  and  thankful  that  his  raemorj'  shall 
dwell  here  as  a  benediction  in  days  to  come. 


REMINISCENCES   OF  JOSEPH   LE   CONTE. 

BY  JOHN    MUIR. 

""DEYOND  all  wealth,  honor,  or  even  health,  is  the  attach- 

^    ment  we  form  to  noble  souls." 

I  have  been  one  of  Joseph  Le  Conte's  innumerable  friends 
and  admirers  for  more  than  thirty  years.  It  was  in  Yosemite 
Valley  that  I  first  met  him,  not  far  from  the  famous  rock  be- 
neath the  shadow  of  which  he  died.  With  a  party  of  his 
students  he  was  making  his  first  excursion  into  the  high 
Sierra,  and  it  was  delightful  to  see  with  what  eager,  joyful, 
youthful  enthusiasm  he  reveled  in  the  sublime  beaut}^  of  the 
great  Valley,  and  tried  to  learn  how  it  was  made.  His  fame 
had  already  reached  me,  though  he  had  then  been  only  a  year 
or  two  in  California,  and,  like  everybody  else,  I  was  at  once 
drawn  to  him  by  the  charm  of  his  manners,  as  to  a  fine  lake 
or  a  mountain;  and  when  he  kindly  invited  me  to  join  his 
party,  of  course  I  gladly  left  all  my  other  work  and  followed 
him.  This  first  Le  Conte  excursion,  with  its  grand  landscapes 
and  weather  and  delightful  campfire  talks,  though  now  far 
back  in  the  days  of  auld  lang  syne,  still  remains  in  mind 
bright  and  indestructible,  like  glacial  inscriptions  on  granite. 


2IO  The  University  of  Calijoriiia  Magazine. 

We  left  the  Valley  by  the  Coulterville  trail,  then,  turning 
to  the  eastward,  climbed  in  long,  wavering  curves  and  zigzags 
through  the  glorious  forests  of  silver  fir  north  of  Yosemite, 
across  the  dome-paved  basin  of  Yosemite  Creek,  along  the 
southern  slopes  of  Mt.  Hoffmann,  down  into  the  bright,  icy 
basin  of  Lake  Tenaya,  over  the  Merced  and  Tuolumne  divide 
past  a  multitude  of  sublime  glacial  monuments,  along  many 
a  mile  of  smooth,  flowery  meadows,  up  Mt.  Dana,  and  down 
Bloody  Caiion  to  the  lake  and  gray  plains  and  volcanoes  of 
Mono.  How  the  beloved  Professor  enjoyed  all  this  his  own 
story  best  tells.  Sinewy,  slender,  erect,  he  studied  the  grand 
show,  forgetting  all  else,  riding  with  loose,  dangling  rein,  al- 
lowing his  horse  to  go  as  it  liked.  He  had  a  fine  poetic  ap- 
preciation of  nature,  and  never  tired  of  gazing  at  the  noble 
forests  and  gardens,  lakes  and  meadows,  mountains  and 
streams,  displayed  along  the  windings  of  the  trail,  calling  at- 
tention to  this  and  that  with  buoyant,  sparkling  delight  like 
that  of  a  child,  keeping  up  running  all-day  lectures,  as  if  trying 
to  be  the  tongue  of  every  object  in  sight.  On  calm  nights  by 
the  campfire  he  talked  on  the  lessons  of  the  day,  blending  art, 
science,  and  philosophy  with  whatever  we  had  seen.  Any  one 
of  us,  by  asking  a  question  on  no  matter  what  subject,  made 
his  thoughts  pour  forth  and  shine  like  rain,  quickening,  ex- 
citing mental  action,  appealing  to  all  that  is  noblest  in  life. 

Our  camp  at  Lake  Tenaya  was  especially  memorable.  After 
supper  and  some  talk  by  the  fire,  Le  Conte  and  I  sauntered 
through  the  pine  groves  to  the  shore  and  sat  down  on  a  big 
rock  that  stands  out  a  little  way  in  the  water.  The  full  moon 
and  the  stars  filled  the  lake  with  light,  and  brought  out  the 
rich  sculpture  of  the  walls  of  the  basin  and  surrounding  moun- 
tains with  marvelous  clearness  and  beauty  amid  the  shadows. 
Subsiding  waves  made  gentle  heaving  swells,  and  a  slight 
breeze  ruffled  the  surface,  giving  rise  to  ever-changing  pic- 
tures of  wondrous  brightness.  At  first  we  talked  freely,  ad- 
miring the  silvery  masses  and  ripples  of  light,  and  the  mys- 
tic, wavering  dance  of  the  stars  and  rocks  and  shadows  re- 


Reminiscences  oj  Joseph  Le  Conte.  211 

fleeted  in  the  unstable  mirror.  But  soon  came  perfect  still- 
ness, earth  and  sky  were  inseparably  blended  and  spiritual- 
ized, and  we  could  only  gaze  on  the  celestial  vision  in  devout, 
silent,  wondering  admiration.  That  lake  with  its  mountains 
and  stars,  pure,  serene,  transparent,  its  boundaries  lost  in 
fullness  of  light,  is  to  me  an  emblem  of  the  soul  of  our 
friend. 

Two  years  later  we  again  camped  together,  when  I  was 
leading  him  to  some  small  residual  glaciers  I  had  found.  But 
his  time  was  short;  he  had  to  get  back  to  his  class-room.  I 
suggested  running  away  for  a  season  or  two  in  lime-obliterat- 
ing wildness,  and  pictured  the  blessings  that  would  flow  from 
truancy  so  pious  and  glorious.  He  smiled  in  sympathy  with 
an  introverted  look,  as  if  recalling  his  own  free  days  when 
first  he  reveled  in  nature's  wild  wealth.  I  think  it  was  at 
this  time  he  told  me  the  grand  story  of  his  early  exploring 
trip  to  Lake  Superior  and  the  then  wild  region  about  the 
headwaters  of  the  Mississippi.  And  notwithstanding  he  ac- 
complished so  much  in  the  short  excursions  which  at  every 
opportunity  he  made,  I  have  always  thought  it  was  to  be  re- 
gretted that  he  allowed  himself  to  be  caught  and  put  in  pro- 
fessional harness  so  early. 

As  a  teacher  he  stood  alone  on  this  side  of  the 
continent,  and  his  influence  no  man  can  measure.  He 
carried  his  students  in  his  heart,  and  was  the  idol  of  the 
University.  He  had  the  genius  of  hard  work  which  not 
even  the  lassitude  of  sickness  could  stop.  Few  of  his  scholars 
knew  with  what  inexorable  determination  he  toiled  to  keep 
close  up  with  the  most  advanced  thought  of  the  times  and  get 
it  into  teachable  form;  how  he  listened  to  the  speech  which 
day  uttereth  unto  day,  and  gathered  knowledge  from  every 
source — libraries,  laboratories,  explorers  in  every  field,  assim- 
ilating the  results  of  other  men's  discoveries  and  making  them 
his  own,  to  be  given  out  again  free  as  air.  He  had  the  rare 
gift  of  making  dim,  nebulous  things  clear  and  attractive  to 
other  minds,  and  he  never  lacked  listeners.     Always  ready  for 


212  The  U?iiversiiy  of  Calif  or  7iia  Magazine. 

every  sort  of  audience,  he  lifted  his  charmed  hearers  up  and 
away  into  intellectual  regions  they  had  never  hoped  to  see  or 
dared  to  encounter,  making  the  ways  seem  easy,  paths  of 
pleasantness  and  peace,  like  a  mountaineer  who,  anxious  to 
get  others  onto  commanding  peaks,  builds  a  trail  for  them, 
winding  hither  and  thither  through  the  midst  of  toil-beguiling 
beauty  to  summits  whence  the  infinitely  varied  features  of  the 
landscape  are  seen  in  one  harmony,  and  all  boundaries  are 
transparent  and  become  outlets  into  celestial  space. 

Joseph  I^e  Conte  was  not  a  leader,  and  he  was  as  far  as  pos- 
sible from  being  what  is  called  "a  good  fighter,  or  hater." 
Anything  like  a  quarrel  or  hot  controversy  he  instinctively 
avoided,  went  serenely  on  his  way,  steeping  everything  in 
philosophy,  overcoming  evil  with  good.  His  friends  were  all 
who  knew  him,  and  he  had  besides  the  respect  of  the  whole 
community,  hopefully  showing  that  however  bad  the  world 
may  be,  it  is  good  enough  to  recognize  a  good  man. 

In  the  winter  of  1874  or  '5  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  his 
beloved  brother,  John.  The  two  with  their  families  were  then 
living  together  in  a  queer  old  house  in  Oakland,  and  I  spent 
many  pleasant  evenings  with  them.  The  brothers  and  John's 
son  Julian  were  invariably  found  reading  or  writing.  Joseph, 
turning  down  his  book,  would  draw  me  out  on  my  studies  in 
the  Sierra,  and  we  were  occasionally  joined  by  John  when  some 
interesting  question  of  physics  caught  his  attention, — the  car- 
rying force  of  water  at  different  velocities,  how  boulders  were 
shoved  or  rolled  on  sea  beaches  or  in  river  channels,  glacial 
denudation,  etc.  I  noticed  that  when  diflficulties  on  these 
and  kindred  subjects  came  up  Joseph  turned  to  his  brother, 
and  always,  I  think,  regarded  him  intellectually  as  greater 
than  himself.  Once  he  said  to  me:  "The  public  don't  know 
my  brother  for  half  what  he  is;  only  in  purely  scientific  cir- 
cles is  he  known.  There  he  is  well  known  and  appreciated  as 
one  of  the  greatest  physicists  in  America,  He  seems  to  have 
less  vitality  than  I  have,  seldom  lectures  outside  of  his  class- 
room, cares  nothing  for  popularity:  but  he  is  one  of  the  most 


Joseph  Le  Cojite.  213 

amiable  of  men  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  profound  and  orig- 
inal of  thinkers."  In  face  and  manners  he  was  like  his 
brother,  and  had  the  same  genial  disposition  and  intellectual 
power.  But  he  was  less  influential  as  a  teacher  than  Joseph, 
held  straighter  forward  on  his  own  way,  doing  original  and 
purely  scientific  work,  and  loved  to  dwell  on  the  heights  out 
of  sight  of  common  minds.  Few  of  his  students  could  follow 
him  in  his  lectures,  for  his  aims  were  high  and  the  trails  he 
made  were  steep,  but  all  were  his  devoted  admirers.  Until 
John's  death,  some  ten  years  ago,  the  brothers  were  always 
spoken  of  as  "the  two  Le  Contes."  In  my  mind  they  still 
stand  together,  a  blessed  pair,  twin  stars  of  purest  light. 
Their  writings  brought  them  world-wide  renown,  and  their 
names  will  live,  but  far  more  important  is  the  inspiring,  up- 
lifting, enlightening  influence  they  exerted  on  their  students 
and  the  community,  which,  spreading  from  mind  to  mind, 
heart  to  heart,  age  to  age,  in  ever  widening  circles,  will  go  on 
forever. 


JOSEPH   LE  CONTE. 

BY  INA   COOI.BRITH. 

What  words  can  add  unto  his  fame, 

Or  greener  make  his  well-won  bays?     ' 

Himself  has  deathless  writ  his  name. 
His  life-work  is  his  noblest  praise. 

No  man  was  cast  in  gentler  mould, 
Yet  stronger  none  in  firm  command. 

His  thought  our  lesser  thought  controlled, 
Our  hearts  he  held  within  his  hand. 

And  Heaven  so  close  about  him  lay 
While  still  earth's  lowly  plane  he  trod, 

He  might  not  miss  its  shining  way: 

Who  walks  with  nature  walks  with  God. 


214  '^^^^  University  of  California  Magazine. 


THE  GEOLOGICAL  WORK  OF  PROFESSOR  JOSEPH 

LE  CONTE. 

By  JOHN   C.    MERRIAM. 

PROFESSOR  LE  CONTE  seems  to  have  been  first  at- 
tracted to  geological  work  by  coming  in  contact  with 
Dr.  James  Hall,  the  famous  leader  of  the  earlier  geological 
school  in  this  country.  Up  to  the  time  of  his  first  meeting 
with  Hall,  he  had  shown  interest  in  geology,  but  was  princi- 
pally concerned  with  problems  belonging  in  other  branches  of 
science.  Though  the  first  great  stimulus  to  this  work  was 
received  from  Hall,  his  career  in  this  field  really  began  after 
his  interests  became  identified  with  those  of  the  University  of 
California.  The  greater  number  of  his  contributions  to  geo- 
logical science,  both  descriptive  and  philosophic,  are  based 
upon  observations  made  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 

Professor  Le  Conte's  work  was  in  general  the  study  of  the 
greater  problems  in  geology,  rather  than  the  description  of 
isolated  phenomena.  He  never  mistook  the  geological  sym- 
bol for  the  thing  it  represented,  and  he  was  never  mislead  by 
anything  foreign  to  the  problem  he  sought  to  solve. 

Though  not  generally  considered  a  field  geologist,  he  made 
extensive  excursions  to  the  regions  of  greatest  interest  on 
this  coast.  A  considerable  part  of  the  Sierra  range  was  ex- 
plored by  him,  and  his  mountain  study  was  carried  north  into 
Oregon  and  Washington.  On  his  summer  excursions  he  was 
not  infrequently  accompanied  by  students  from  his  classes  in 
the  University. 

Although  his  greatest  interest  seems  to  have  centered 
around  problems  concerning  the  relation  of  the  greater  physi- 
cal changes,  especially  crustal  movements,  to  the  evolution  of 
the  organic  world,  he  furnished  important  contributions  to 
nearly  all  branches  of  geology.     On  the  purely  mineralogical 


The  Geological  Work  of  Prof,  foseph  Le  CoJiie.        215 

or  chemical  side,  we  find  him  adding  to  our  knowledge  of 
metalliferous  veins,  and  he  is  generally  recognized  as  one  of 
the  authorities  on  this  subject.  On  the  physical  side,  he  in- 
terested himself  in  the  carrying  power  of  water  and  in  the 
exact  study  of  earthquake  waves.  In  palaeontological  work 
his  description  and  discussion  of  the  famous  Carson  foot- 
prints, which  was  actually  the  first  on  that  subject  to  be  com- 
pleted, is  a  truly  remarkable  piece  of  investigation.  Much  of 
his  most  important  work  was  in  the  field  of  general  inorganic 
geology.  Here  he  contributed  largely  to  the  literature  on  the 
origin  and  formation  of  mountains,  the  evolution  of  conti- 
nental masses,  the  permanence  of  continents  and  ocean  ba- 
sins, movements  of  the  earth's  crust  and  their  causes,  the 
great  lava  flood  of  the  northwest,  Mono  volcanoes,  and  the 
glacial  geology  of  the  Sierras.  He  was  also  an  active  worker 
in  historical  geology,  and  some  of  his  latest  publications  on 
critical  periods  in  the  earth's  history  and  the  Sierran  (Ozark- 
ian)  epoch  open  practically  new  territory  for  research. 

The  work  which  Professor  L,e  Conte  accomplished  in  geol- 
ogy shows  throughout  a  conception  of  the  relations  of  the 
various  branches  of  natural  science  to  each  other  such  as  has 
been  possessed  by  but  few.  To  the  close  of  his  life  he  kept 
himself  perfectly  informed  on  all  the  important  work  being 
done  in  the  natural  history  sciences,  and  owing  to  his  wide 
field  of  vision  he  was  frequently  able  to  determine  at  a  glance 
the  proper  relation  of  things,  which  others,  limited  to  a  nar- 
row field,  could  not  possibly  discern.  This  is  shown  very  fre- 
quently in  his  combination  of  the  good  points  of  several  quite 
different  theories  bearing  on  the  same  subject.  Many  of  his 
contributions,  more  especially  those  on  critical  periods  in  the 
earth's  history,  show  just  such  a  grasp  of  the  whole  subject  of 
geological  and  biological  science.  In  this  work  he  called  at- 
tention, as  had  never  been  done  before,  to  the  eflfect  of  com- 
plex physical  changes,  such  as  critical  movements  and  modi- 
fications of  climate  on  the  progress  of  organic  evolution. 

Through  all  of  his  contributions  to  historical  geology,  there 


2i6  The   University  of  California  Magazine. 

runs  as  the  central  idea  the  theory  of  organic  evolution.  The 
fossil  forms  preserved  to  us  from  past  periods  were  not  consid- 
ered by  him  simply  as  curiosities  which  were  interesting  be- 
cause they  happened  to  appear  strange  to  us,  but  rather  as  the 
sacred  remains  left  by  a  countless  succession  of  generations 
which  has  passed  to  us,  along  an  unbroken  chain,  the  princi- 
ple or  germ  of  life.  Probably  no  other  writer  in  the  field  ef 
historical  geology  has  made  such  successful  use  of  the  evolu- 
tionary or  narrative  style  of  the  treatment  of  the  subject. 
Though  Professor  Le  Conte  ascribes  the  first  use  of  this 
method  to  Dana,  it  is  probably  true  that  his  own  work  had 
great  influence  in  finally  bringing  Dana  to  the  point  where  he 
could  unreservedly  accept  evolution  as  based  on  actual  his- 
toric succession.  In  his  later  lectures  and  discussions  of  the 
theory  of  evolution,  to  which  he  has  contributed  so  much,  he 
placed  the  strongest  emphasis  on  what  has  been  rather  than 
what  jnight  be. 

In  his  intercourse  with  other  scientific  men  Professor  I^e 
Conte  was  always  helpful,  sympathetic,  and  appreciative.  He 
always  gave  freely  of  his  store  of  knowledge  in  assisting  oth- 
ers to  solve  problems  which  refused  to  yield  to  them.  Though 
he  engaged  in  many  discussions  with  those  whose  views  dif- 
fered from  his  own,  he  made  no  enemies.  Always  respecting 
others'  opinions,  whether  he  accepted  them  or  not,  he  was 
ever  held  in  the  highest  respect  and  esteem  by  geologists  of 
all  lands.  In  recognition  of  his  services  to  geological  sci- 
ence, Professor  I,e  Conte  was  honored  by  election  to  the  high- 
est positions  which  the  scientific  associations  of  this  country 
could  confer.  He  served  as  President  of  the  American  Geo- 
logical Society  and  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science,  and  had  been  Vice-President  of  the 
International  Geological  Congress. 

As  far-reaching  and  as  lasting  as  Professor  Le  Conte's  in- 
fluence may  be  seen  to  be  among  the  men  of  his  profession,  it 
will  probably  not  exceed  that  which  he  has  exerted  on  the 
world  at  large  in  the  capacity  of  instructor.    In  his  own  class- 


The  Geological  Work  of  Prof.  Joseph  Le  Conte.        2 1 7 

room  at  the  University  of  California  during  more  than  thirty 
years,  he  presented  to  interested  audiences  the  best  that 
there  is  in  his  subject.  Such  was  his  power  of  explanation 
and  description  in  the  lecture  room  that  the  most  difficult 
problems  seemed  absolutely  to  melt  away,  and  after  hearing 
him  on  such  subjects  students  have  been  known  to  state  that 
explanation  seemed  hardly  necessary,  as  the  matter  was  so 
easily  understood.  Through  the  medium  of  his  text-book, 
"The  Elements  of  Geology,"  he  has  covered  a  vastly  larger 
field  than  could  be  reached  in  his  lectures.  Probably  no  col- 
lege text-book  in  science  has  been  more  widely  used  in  this 
country  than  "The  Elements."  Certainly,  there  are  none 
which  present  in  a  simpler  or  more  attractive  form  the  ele- 
ments of  any  science.  His  treatment  of  the  subject  was, 
when  his  book  first  appeared,  in  many  respects  essentially 
new,  and  almost  for  the  first  time  it  was  made  clear  that  geo- 
logical history  is  only  the  earlier  part  of  history  in  general. 

With  the  passing  of  Professor  lye  Conte,  geologists  lose  a 
great  contributor  and  leader,  and  the  world  loses  a  great 
teacher.  Others  may  arise  who  in  scientific  attainment  in 
this  particular  branch  of  research  will  perhaps  stand  in  the 
same  rank  with  him,  but  it  will  be  long  before  we  find  again 
in  one  man  that  combination  of  qualities  which  has  made 
Professor  Le  Conte  not  only  one  of  the  most  successful  gath- 
erers of  knowledge,  but  also  one  of  the  foremost  teachers. 


2i8  The  University  of  California  Magazi7ie. 


PROFESSOR    LE    CONTE   AS   SEEN   THROUGH   HIS 

BIOLOGICAL  WORK. 

BY   WM.    E.    RITTER. 

IT  is  not  my  purpose  to  give  liere  either  a  historical  review 
of  Professor  Joseph  L,e  Conte's  biological  work  or  a 
critical  estimate  of  its  value.  The  former  would  not  be  of 
much  interest  in  itself.  The  latter,  if  done  at  all  by  any  of  us 
who  were  his  intimate  associates,  must  be  a  task  for  the  future 
after  time  shall  have  given  his  deeds  chance  to  regain  in  our 
minds  some  poition  of  the  room  now  filled  by  the  sense  of  de- 
privation and  grief  at  the  departure  from  us  forever  of  the 
rare  man,  the  beloved  master,  the  dear  friend.  What  inter- 
ests us  now  above  all  else  is  the  man  himself. 

My  primary  aim  shall  be  consequently  to  make  the  consid- 
eration of  his  biological  work  contribute  to  the  gaining  of  a 
fuller  and  clearer  view  of  the  man,  his  life,  his  ideals. 

Professor  Le  Conte's  first  allegiance  was  to  geology  rather 
than  biology.  He  himself  freely  owned  this,  and  it  was  uni- 
versally recognized  among  his  scientific  contemporaries.  It 
is  significant,  however,  that  his  early  training  was  more  bio- 
logical than  geological;  that  some  of  his  earliest  and  his  very 
last  scientific  papers  were  biological;  and  that  his  most  origi- 
nal and  probably  most  enduring  work  was  in  this  domain. 

The  study  and  practice  of  medicine,  to  which  he  devoted 
seven  years,  between  the  ages  of  twenty  and  twenty-seven,  were 
for  him,  as  they  should  be  for  all  devotees  of  this  noble  profess- 
ion, a  biological  matter;  and  later  his  training  under  Louis 
Agassiz  was  more  biological  than  geological,  for  Agassiz  was 
primarily  a  zoologist. 

Among  his  earliest  writings,  the  papers  which  bring  out 
best  not  only  the  scope  but  also  the  philosophical  cast  of  his 
knowledge  in  the  biological  sciences,  three  are  preeminent. 


Prof.  Le  Conte  as  Seen  Through  His  Biological  Work.   219 

The  first,  chronologically,  published  in  1850  while  he  was  still 
a  practicing  physician,  is  "On  the  Science  of  Medicine,  and 
Causes  Which  Have  Retarded  Its  Progress,"  The  second, 
bearing  the  date  of  1858  and  entitled  "Morphology  and  Its 
Connection  With  Fine  Art,"  gives  more  fully  and  clearly  than 
can  be  gained  elsewhere  the  doctrine  of  organic  creation 
then  held  by  him.  The  third,  read  at  the  American  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Science  in  1859  and  published 
the  same  year,  is  on  "The  Correlation  of  Physical,  Chemical 
and  Vital  Force,  and  the  Conservation  of  Force  in  Vital  Phe- 
nomena," This  is  undoubtedly  one  of  his  most  important 
contributions  to  biological  thought.  His  very  last  published 
words  are  in  the  form  of  a  note  in  Science^  June  21,  1901,  on 
"What  Is  lyife?"  His  investigations  in  sight,  particularly 
in  binocular  vision,  were,  in  his  own  estimation,  the  most 
original  and  independent  of  his  work. 

I  believe,  too,  that  in  his  biological  rather  than  his  geologi- 
cal writings  we  find  most  fully  displayed  the  catholicity  of  his 
mind  toward  natural  phenomena.  Nowhere  in  geology  did 
he  penetrate  deeply  in  technical  minutiae.  Had  we  his  geologi- 
cal work  only  to  judge  from,  we  might  conclude  that  he  was 
deficient  in  the  capacity  for  and  delight  in  that  patient,  minute 
working  out  of  details  so  essential  to  the  highest,  safest 
achievement  in  any  province  of  physical  science.  One  has, 
however,  but  to  follow  through  carefully  Part  III  of  the  last 
edition  of  the  volume  on  "Sight"  to  find  that  he  did  possess 
it  in  an  eminent  degree.  Here,  far  more  than  anywhere  else 
in  his  published  writings,  is  displayed  the  mathematical- 
physical  quality  of  his  mind,  which  he  inherited  from  his 
father,  and  which  came  out  so  prominently  in  his  brother, 
John  L,e  Conte. 

His  way  of  seeing  natural  phenomena  in  the  large,  and  his 
remarkable  power  of  finding  the  unifying  principles  and  laws 
underlying  them,  though  perhaps  brought  to  bear  in  geology 
more  fruitfully  for  the  science  itself  than  in  biology,  is  shown 
in  its  full  breadth,  and  to  the  understanding  of  a  larger  public 


220  The   University  of  California  Magazine. 

in  biology  than  in  geology.  His  numerous  discussions  of  the 
relation  of  science  to  education,  art,  sociology,  philosophy,  and 
religion,  have  undoubtedly  had  the  widest  influence  of  all  his 
works  ou  the  thought  of  his  generation. 

A  systematic  examination  of  his  utterances  in  this  province 
shows  them  to  be  essentially  a  defence  of  the  proposition  that 
human  life,  whatever  else  it  may  be,  is  still  fundamentally 
akin  to  all  life;  and  hence  that  the  basal  idea  of  biology — 
Life;  and  the  distinctive  method  of  biological  science,  the 
comparative  method — must  be  carried  into  all  investigation  and 
treatment  of  human  life  and  society. 

Nearly  all  his  papers  of  this  class  are,  in  keeping  with 
this  general  purpose,  first,  a  presentation  of  the  data  and 
fundamental  conceptions  of  biology  with  some  illustration  of 
the  comparative  method;  and,  second,  a  projection  of  these 
data  and  conceptions  and  methods  into  the  particular  topic 
under  consideration. 

For  example,  his  early  essay  on  "Morphology  and  Its 
Connection  With  Fine  Art,"  already  referred  to,  is  quite  an 
extensive  treatise  on  the  doctrine  of  organic  types  held  at  that 
time  by  some  of  the  foremost  biologists,  with  a  consideration 
of  the  laws  of  modification  within  the  types.  These  types  are 
the  expression  of  Divine  ideas;  the  working  out  of  them  in 
nature  is  God's  way  of  giving  his  ideas  for7n.  Nature,  then, 
is  Divine  art  wrought  out  by  the  hand  of  the  Divine  artist. 
Human  art  is  true  art,  consequently,  in  so  far  as  it  obeys  the 
laws  and  follows  the  example  of  Divine  art,  which  is  nature. 

This  early  paper  illustrates  so  well  the  method  of  all  his 
later  thinking  in  these  directions,  it  will  be  profitable  to  see 
some  of  its  expressions  themselves.  "We  have  seen,"  he 
says,  "that  in  all  organic  nature  we  find  everywhere  some 
simple  idea  infinitely  modified.  DiflFerentiation  of  a  simple 
elementary  form  and  specialization  of  function,  resulting  in 
mutual  dependence  of  parts,  is  the  fundamental  idea  of  organ- 
ization, the  very  idea  of  life,  the  very  principle  of  Divine 
architecture.  Now,  is  not  this  the  principle,  too,  unconsciously 


Prof.  Le  Conte  as  See?i   Through  His  Biological  Work.   221 

applied,  of  the  highest  human  architecture  ?  In  the  best  spec- 
imens of  Gothic  architecture — e.  g.,  how  often  do  we  find  the 
same  elementary  form  repeated  ad  iyifiyiiieum  ^  under  various 
disguises,  according  to  the  functions  of  the  several  parts. 
*  *  *  Is  not  this  differentiation  of  simple  elementary  form 
and  specialization  of  function?  Is  it  not  the  mutual  and  har- 
monious dependence  of  parts  which  constitutes  true  organic 
unity?  Is  it  not  organization?  Is  it  not  life?  We  believe 
that  this  idea  of  organic  unity  is  the  basis  of  all  art." 

Likewise,  an  analysis  of  his  numerous  papers  on  the  rela- 
tion of  biology  to  sociology  will  show  the  same  thing:  A 
setting  forth  of  the  data  and  conceptions  and  methods  of  bio- 
logical science  first;  then  the  application  of  these  to  the  sci- 
ence of  huniaa  society. 

I  must  not  dwell  further  on  this  matter.  It  will  suflSce 
for  the  present  to  point  out  that  of  the  340  pages  constituting 
the  volume  on  "Evolution  and  Its  Relation  to  Religious 
Thought,"  250  are  a  treatise  on  organic  evolution,  pure  and 
simple. 

The  preponderance  of  his  early  training  distinctly  on  the 
side  of  biology;  possessed  of  so  strong  a  predilection  for  phil- 
osophical contemplation  of  the  phenomena  of  life,  and  such 
sympathy  for  it  as  it  manifests  itself  in  human  kind,  the  ques- 
tion inevitably  arises,  why  did  he  choose  to  make  geology 
rather  than  biology  his  central  concern  ? 

It  should  be  observed  that  the  decision  could  not  have  rested 
in  this  instance  as  in  many  another  on  the  ground  of  the  mere 
circumstance  of  a  position  for  winning  a  livelihood;  for  each 
of  the  college  professorships  he  was  called  to  fill  at  various 
times  during  his  life  included,  like  that  in  our  own  Uni- 
versity, the  two  sciences  on  an  equal  footing. 

He  has  told  us  that  it  was  his  meeting  with  James  Hall, 
for  many  years  Chief  of  the  New  York  State  Geological  Sur- 
vey, that  was  the  immediate  influence  in  turning  him  to 
geology.  But  there  must  have  been  something  deeper  than 
mere  contact  with  a  man;  deeper  than  an}^  exterior  influence, 


222  The   University  of  CaliJor7iia  Magazine. 

in  it.  He  did  not  meet  Hall,  if  I  remember  correctly,  until 
some  time  after  he  had  become  a  regular  student  under  Agas- 
siz;  and  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  Hall's  enthusiasm, 
great  as  it  is  said  to  have  been,  could  have  been  in  itself  a 
greater  winning  force  than  Agassiz's. 

Strongly  as  biological  phenomena  appealed  to  his  mind,  he 
must  have  found  something  in  geology  that  attracted  him  still 
more.  Without  presuming  to  have  recognized  positively  and 
fully  what  that  something  was,  I  believe  we  can  detect  at 
least  a  part  of  it. 

I  think  we  may  say  that  the  science  of  organisms  did  in. 
deed  appeal  to  him  more  than  any  other;  but  for  him  the 
earth  was  an  organism.  It  had  a  beginning  in  a  simple,  hom- 
ogeneous state;  it  has  undergone  a  continuous,  orderly  devel- 
opment in  time  through  the  operation  of  its  resident  forces;  it 
will  have  an  end. 

The  contemplation  oi  forces  ^x\6.  processes  was  to  him  the  thing 
of  supreme  interest  everywhere.  In  the  biological  province,  it 
was  not  the  structure  of  the  eye,  but  its  mode  of  working  and 
its  evolution  that  engaged  his  attention.  It  was  not  the  his- 
tology of  the  liver,  but  its  glycogenic  function  that  interested 
him;  not  wing  anatomy,  but  the  flight  of  birds  was  it  that  he 
found  delight  in  studying. 

So  in  geology  it  was  not  the  structure  of  mountains,  but  the 
way  they  were  built;  not  the  composition  of  ore  deposits,  but 
the  method  of  their  formation  that  he  thought  upon  with  such 
zeal  and  pleasure  and  acumen. 

Now,  the  earth  being  for  him  an  organism,  because  it  is  the 
mightiest  of  all  organisms,  it  attracted  him  more  than  any 
other. 

His  mind  could  not  be  satisfied  with  generalizations  about 
nature  until  they  had  reached  out  to  its  uttermost  limits,  and 
in  the  infinite  time  of  geology  and  the  immensity  of  earth- 
developing  forces,  he  found  room  for  the  unhampered  play  of 
his  scientific  imagination  and  unexcelled  powers  of  general- 
ization, that  he  did  not  find  in  biology. 


Prof.  Le  Conte  as  Seen  Through  His  Biological  Work.    223 

One  other  insight  into  his  nature,  properly  obtained  by  ap- 
proaching him  from  the  biological  direction,  I  must  touch 
upon  in  conclusion.  I  refer  to  his  attitude  toward  the  doc- 
trine of  evolution.  This  admirably  illustrates  both  his  abso- 
lute fealty  to  scientific  truth  and  the  depth  and  sincerity  of 
his  devotion  to  the  essentials  of  religion. 

The  particularly  admirable  and  significant  thing  about  this 
attitude  is  not  that  he  stood  as  one  of  the  ablest,  fairest- 
minded  champions  of  both  religion  and  evolution,  but  the  fact 
of  his  having  become  such  a  champion.  It  is  a  less  distinc- 
tion for  him  that  he  of zaf  write  the  "Evolution  in  Its  Relation 
to  Religious  Thought"  than  that  he  coidd  wni&  it.  Weighty 
as  are  the  arguments  on  the  printed  pages  of  the  book  for  the 
fundamental  accord  of  scientific  and  religious  truth,  weightier 
still,  I  think,  are  those  it  contains  that  are  not  printed  at  all. 
It  is  the  life  of  the  man;  the  history  of  the  development  of 
his  mind,  to  be  read  only  between  the  lines,  that  should  give 
it  its  greatest  value,  particularly  for  those  of  its  readers  who 
stand  chiefly  on  the  side  of  religion. 

Professor  I^e  Conte  did  not  become  an  evolutionist  fully  un- 
til he  was  fifty  years  old,  and  for  most  of  his  life  before  this  he 
was  very  far  from  being  one.  Listen  to  this  and  see  what  a. 
strange  sound  it  has  in  contrast  with  what  we  have  all  been 
so  accustomed  to  hear  him  teach:  "They  [organic  species] 
have  remained  unchanged  in  spite  of  changes  in  physical 
conditions.  ^  *  *  Physical  conditions  may  destroy  but  not 
transmute  them.  *  *  *  The  conclusion,  therefore,  is  irre- 
sistible, that  organic  forms  have  no  physical  cause,  but  they 
must  be  referred  directly  to  the  Great  First  Cause,  or  else  that 
each  spiicies  has  a  distinct  immaterial  essence,  which  is  the 
cause  of  its  specific  form,"  These  sentences  were  being  writ- 
ten in  1858,  the  very  year  in  which  Darwin's  great  discovery 
of  natural  selection  was  first  given  to  the  world.  The  con- 
ceptions nevertheless  here  given  expression  to  were  held  by 
him  essentially  for  another  decade  at  least;  until  the  "Origin 
of    Species"    had    been    long    before    the    world,    and  after 


2^4  ^he  University  of  California  Magazine. 

most  biologists  had  gone  over  to  the  evolutionary  side.  Now, 
a  superficial  consideration  of  the  matter  might  regard  his 
slowness  in  accepting  the  doctrine  as  savoring  somewhat  of 
narrowness  and  bigotry.  But  two  facts  that  stand  out  clear 
enough  as  soon  as  we  look  more  carefully  must  dispel  even  a 
suggestion  of  such  an  interpretation.  In  the  first  place,  so 
much  to  him  by  both  nature  and  nurture  was  his  religious 
faith — not  his  theological  creed — that  it  would  have  been  self- 
destructive  for  him  to  accept  any  scientific  doctrine  that  his 
reason  affirmed  to  be  in  deadly  opposition  to  that  faith.  To 
estimate  him  fairly  here,  one  must  consider  carefully  his  relig- 
ious nature  and  training.  Into  this  it  is  not  my  province  to 
enter  now. 

In  the  second  place,  it  must  be  understood  that  in  all  things 
and  always  he  was  philosophical.  A  common  meeting  ground 
he  always  must  have  for  two  elements  so  large  and  precious 
to  his  life  as  were  his  science  and  his  religion.  This  he  found 
for  biological  science  in  the  doctrine  of  organic  types,  first 
made  prominent  in  zoology  by  Cuvier,  and  later  adopted  and 
defended  by  Sir  Richard  Owen  and  Louis  Agassiz,  three  of 
the  greatest  names,  perhaps,  it  must  be  observed,  in  the  whole 
history  of  the  sciences  of  comparative  anatomy  and  palaeon- 
tology. 

Four  and  only  four  great  types  of  animal  organization,  this 
doctrine  said.  Four  and  only  four  Divine  conceptions  or 
plans  in  the  whole  animal  creation,  round  which  all  the 
myriad  variety  of  forms  have  been  wrought  out  by  modifica- 
tion through  the  infinite  wisdom  and  power  and  resource  of 
the  Divine  Architect.  All  the  kinds  of  living  things  are  the 
thoughts  of  God. 

No  conception  of  organic  creation  has  ever  been  proposed 
that  appeals  to  the  poetic  imagination  so  strongly  as  this; 
none  more  better  adapted  to  a  naive  faith  in  a  personal  Deity 
imminent  in  the  natural  world. 

It  is  certainly  a  lofty,  ennobling  conception,  one  that  has 
satisfied,  in  one  form  and  another,  both  the  religious  and  the 


Prof.  Le  Conte  as  a  Philosopher.  225 

scientific  needs  of  some  of  the  greatest  biologists  that  have 
lived.  Cuvier,  Owen,  Agassiz,  and  Le  Conte  held  it,  and  it 
is  worth  while  to  be  reminded  that  the  last  three  were  con- 
temporaries for  much  of  their  lives  and  that  all  of  them  were 
born  a  number  of  5'ears  before  Cuvier  died.  Of  them  all,  Le 
Conte  was  the  only  one  who  gave  up  the  doctrine  and  became 
an  evolutionist. 

For  a  man  of  such  nature  as  Joseph  Le  Conte's  to  have 
wholly  reconstructed  his  religious  faith  and  philosophy  on  a 
higher  plane  after  forty-five,  is  certainly  one  of  the  hardest, 
noblest  acts  he  could  possibly  perform. 


PROFESSOR  LE  CONTE  AS  A  PHILOSOPHER. 

BY   CHARLES    M.    BAKEWELL. 

« 

STUDENTS  of  philosophy  have  especial  occasion  to  mourn 
the  loss  of  Professor  Le  Conte.  He  was  one  of  the  last 
representatives  of  that  nobler  race  of  scientists  who  labored  in- 
cessantly to  find  through  their  very  scientific  investigations  a 
larger  and  richer  world-view;  who  sought  through  science  a 
way  of  life  more  religious  than  that  of  the  ordinary  traditional 
believer,  more  philosophic  than  that  of  the  ordinary  cloistral 
philosopher.  Scientists  of  the  present  generation  are  apt  to  be 
more  timid,  to  have  an  unwholesome  dread  of  the  charge  of 
being  "unscientific,"  and  to  hesitate,  at  least  in  print,  to  step 
beyond  the  prescribed  limits  of  their  chosen  fields  of  investi- 
gation. 

Professor  Le  Conte  was,  to  be  sure,  interested  in  his  science 
for  its  own  sake,  and  attained  marked  eminence  among  his 
specialist  brethren;  but  he  was,  first  of  all,  a  man,  interested 
in  all  things  human,  and  particularly  in  those  questions  that 
go  deepest  into  human  nature,  which  are  precisely  the  ques- 
tions of  philosophy  and  religion.  He  knew  that,  as  a  man,  he 
did  not  live  merely  in   the  world  of  geologj',  or  in   the  world 


226  The  University  of  California  Magazine. 

of  biology;  that,  as  a  man,  he  was  bound  to  take  sides  im- 
plying a  definite  attitude  toward  all  reality.  He  knew  that 
one's  "way  of  life"  is  in  itself  an  implicit  philosphy,  true  or 
false;  and,  believing  thus  philosophy  to  be  inevitable,  he  held, 
with  Socrates,  that  "an  unexamined  life  is  not  worthy  to  be 
lived  by  a  ma7iy 

The  master  generalization  of  science  of  his  day  is  contained 
in  the  the  theory  of  evolution, — a  theory  which  certainly  at 
first  sight  seems  to  make  of  man  a  mere  thing  among  things, 
a  mere  creature  of  cosmic  causes,  and  therefore  neither  free, 
nor  yet  immortal;  a  theory  which  seems  to  substitute  for  the 
personal  God  of  religion  a  blind,  immanent  force.  Professor 
Le  Conte  was  but  gradually  won  over  to  full  acceptance  of 
this  theory,  of  which  he  was  to  become  such  a  famous  ex- 
pounder, and  this  fact  was  due,  I  think,  to  religious  misgiv- 
ings quite  as  much  as  to  scientific  caution.  "Our  faith  in  the 
Infinite  Righteousness,"  he  used  to  say,  "is  founded  on  just 
the  same  ground  as  cur  indestructible  faith  in  the  Reign  of 
L,aw  in  the  natural  world,  and  is  just  as  reasonable."*  And 
so  he  must  first  assure  himself  that  the  theory  of  evolution 
did  no  violence  to  the  moral  needs  of  man,  for  he  felt  that  if 
it  did,  it  must  in  the  end  do  violence  to  his  intellectual  needs 
as  well. 

However  that  may  be,  Professor  Le  Conte's  contributions  to 
philosophy  are  found  in  his  discussions  of  these  cardinal  ques- 
tions: the  existence  of  God,  the  freedom  and  immortality  of 
man,  and  the  closely  allied  question  as  to  the  meaning  of 
evil. 

From  one  point  of  view  his  work  here  seems  mainly 
to  consist  in  the  attempt  to  quash  the  negative  answer, 
which  some  over-confident  evolutionists  would  forthworth 
make  to  these  questions,  and  to  do  this  by  emphasizing 
the  fact  that  the  theory  of  evolution,  being  simply  a  reading 
of  the  zvay  in  which  phenomena  occur,  can  tell  us  nothing 
with  regard  to  the  groiind  of  phenomena,  and  therefore  as  lit- 

*"The  Conception  of  God,"  p.  71. 


Prof.  Le  Conte  as  a  Philosopher.  227 

tie  affects  our  idealism,  our  theism,  or  our  views  with  regard 
to  the  moral  problem,  as  does  any  other  generalization  of  sci- 
ence, for  example,  the  law  of  gravitation.  All  such  general- 
izations, to  be  sure,  unify  experience,  and  in  so  far  eliminate 
the  possibility  of  special  providence.  The  evolutionist  must 
therefore  indeed  say:  If  there  is  a  God,  he  is  in  very  much 
more  intimate  relation  to  nature  and  to  man  than  is  supposed 
in  popular  anthropomorphic  conceptions  of  deity;  if  there  is  a 
free  and  immortal  soul,  none  the  less,  the  body,  with  which 
the  soul  is  in  some  mysterious  way  united,  must  appear  sim- 
ply as  one  particular  physical  fact,  having  its  place  in  a  world 
of  such  facts  completely  unified  by  the  conception  of  evolu- 
tion. 

There  is,  however.  Professor  Le  Conte  held,  an  inner  as 
well  as  an  outer  aspect  of  experience;  there  are  feelings, 
thoughts,  volitions,  as  well  as  stocks  and  stones,  matter  and 
motion.  No  one  has  ever  succeeded,  or,  he  added,  ever  will 
succeed,  in  showing  how  the  material  evolves  into  the  mental, 
how  motion  in  matter — even  nervous  matter — can  be  trans- 
muted into  thought.  There  is  an  impassable  gulf  fixed  be- 
tween these  two  orders  of  experience.*  Has,  then,  evolution 
nothing  to  say  with  regard  to  this  inner  aspect  of  experience? 
Yes.  When  psychology  becomes  comparative  psychology  we 
are  able  to  trace  a  separate  evolutional  process  in  the  mental 
series  that  is  precisely  analogous  to  the  evolutional  process  in 
the  physical  series.  Thus  we  are  led  to  believe  that  "the 
spirit  of  man  was  developed  out  of  the  aninia  or  conscious 
principle  of  animals,  and  that  this,  again,  was  developed  out 
of  the  lower  forms  of  life- force,  and  this  in  its  turn  out  of  the 
chemical  and  physical  forces  of  Nature,  and  that  at  a  certain 
stage  in  this  gradual  development,  viz.,  with  man,  it  acquired 
the  property  of  immortality. "f  And  Professor  Le  Conte  was 
fond  of  picturing,  iu  characteristically  striking  imagery,  the 
manner  in  which  the  evolutional  process  may  be  conceived  as 


♦"Evolution  and  Its  Relation  to  Religious  Thought,"  pp.  290  ff. 
top.  cit.,  p,  205. 


228  The  University  of  California  Magazine. 

preparing  the  way  for  the  final  emergence  of  the  free  and  im- 
mortal spirit.* 

If  we  carry  the  analogy  of  the  relation  between  inner  and 
outer  over  to  the  entire  world  of  nature,  then  God  may  be 
conceived  as  the  a7iima  vnmdi^  and  the  world  of  things,  while 
remaining  mere  objects  for  us,  as  stubborn  and  refractory  as 
you  please,  maybe  conceived  as  God's  thoughts  objectified, — f 
a  position  that  suggests  Berkeley's  famous  saying  that  na- 
ture is  "Divine  visual  language,"  is  God's  way  of  talking  to 
man.  God  is  regarded,  in  other  words,  as  immanent  in  na- 
ture; the  physical  and  chemical  forces  are  a  part  of  the  Divine 
energy  "in  a  diffused,  unindividuated  state."  Gradually  a 
part  of  this  part  becomes  individuated  and  self-active,  at  first 
partially  so,  in  plant  and  animal,  at  last  completely  so,  in  man 
as  a  moral  person. ;{: 

Professor  Le  Conte  did  not,  however,  rest  content  with 
showing  how  the  world  might  be  conceived  from  the  stand- 
point of  evolution  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  our  fundamental 
religious  beliefs,  and  thus  leave  the  door  open  for  faith  to 
bring  them  in.  He  held  that  the  theory  of  evolution  fur- 
nished a  positive  inductive  argument  for  the  existence  of 
God,  and  for  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  Evolution  discov- 
ers a  general  trend  of  development,  an  upward  and  onward 
progress,  which  clearly  points  beyond  to  the  perfect  goal. 
The  meaning  of  the  whole  process,  and  of  every  part  of  it,  is 
found  in  this  perfect  goal,  which  must  therefore  be  as  real  as 
any  of  the  steps  to  which  it  gives  meaning. 

Similarly  in  the  case  of  the  individual,  the  meaning  of  the 
struggle  from  consciousness  to  self-consciousness,  and  of  the 
further  struggles  in  the  journey  through  life  from  conscious- 
ness to  moral  consciousness,  is  lost  if  death  end  all,  for  then 
man  must  be  forever  chasing  an  ignis  fatuus,  forever  stretch- 


*Esp.  op.  cit.,  p.  300.    The  metaphors  here  used  frequently  recur  in  Professor  Le 
Conte's  writings. 

top.  cit.,  p.  2S3. 
^''Conceptions  01  God,"  p.  76. 


Prof.  Le  Conie  as  a  Philosopher.  229 

ing  out  after  ideals  hopelessly  beyond  his  reach.  Further- 
more, the  sole  purpose  of  the  progressive  individuation  of  the 
Divine  energy  by  evolution  is  that  God  may  have  in  man 
"something  not  only  to  contemplate,  but  also  to  love  and  be 
loved  by."  And  "without  immortality  this  whole  purpose  is 
balked — the  whole  process  of  cosmic  evolution  is  futile."* 

The  position  is  thus,  at  bottom,  a  simple  expression  of  trust 
in  the  complete  rationality  of  the  universe,  a  profession  of 
faith  in  reason  which  has  become  a  faith  but  the  more  surely 
grounded  by  the  scientific  discoveries  of  the  orderliness  and 
reasonableness  of  nature's  ways. 

In  his  treatment  of  the  problem  of  evil  Professor  Le  Conte 
held  that  physical  evil  is  the  necessary  price  of  the  intelligent, 
moral  evil  the  inevitable  condition  of  the  moral,  personality. 
Men  might  conceivably  have  been  created  innocent,  but  not 
morally  good.  Choice  of  the  good,  which  morality  implies,  is 
only  possible  for  one  who  has  also  the  knowledge  of  evil. 
And  the  sting  which  lurks  in  this  doctrine,  so  far  as  moral 
degenerates  and  other  unfortunates  are  concerned,  is  re- 
moved by  the  conviction  of  the  essential  deathlessness  of  the 
self-conscious  personality. 

Professor  Le  Conte' s  favorite  method  consisted  in  bringing 
forward  upon  each  topic  treated  two  opposing,  and  apparently 
equally  plausible,  views,  and  then  showing  that  usuall)'  each 
was  right  in  what  it  asserted  and  wrong  in  what  it  denied; 
that  both  were  partial  truths  which  could  be  welded  together 
into  a  higher  synthesis,— a  method  which  to  the  student  of 
philosophy  will  at  once  suggest  the  Hegelian  dialectic,  with 
its  triune  forward  movement. 

Suggestive  also  of  Hegel  is  Professor  Le  Conte' s  general 
conception  of  reality  as  one  eternal  consciousness  which 
"outers"  itself  in  the  world  of  nature,  while  remaining  one 
with  itself  throughout,  is  immanent  in  this  world  as  its  one 
moving  principle;  and  his  methcd  of  escape  from  the  panthe- 
ism implied  in  this  view  by  holding  that  this  consciousness  is 

*"The  Conception  of  God,"  pp.  77-S. 


230  The  University  of  California  Magazine. 

Infinite  Benevolence,  and  that  it  is  the  very  life  of  its  being  to 
bring  to  life  other  beings,  which,  while  springing  from  it, 
shall  be  none  the  less  independent  and  free,  the  responsible 
agents  of  their  own  deeds. 

If  asked  to  explain  how  this  could  be,  and  further,  how  a 
free  spirit  could  originate  acts  in  a  world  ruled  by  divine  law 
and  necessity, — as  he  held  the  world  to  be, — Professor  L,e 
Coute  would  shake  his  head  and  reply  in  his  well-known,  de- 
liberate, emphatic  way:  "I  do  not  know.  It  is  a  77iystery, 
but  a  mystery  upon  which  we  may  not  unreasonably  hope 
some  day  to  have  more  light," 

In  what  I  have  said  above  I  have  confined  myself  strictly 
to  a  statement  of  Professor  L,e  Conte's  position,  made,  as  far  as 
possible,  in  his  own  words.  Brief  as  the  statement  is,  it  will, 
I  trust,  make  evident  the  fact  that  Professor  Le  Conte's  was 
a  genuinely  philosophical  mind.  We  can  onl}'  regret  that  he 
did  not  find  occasion,  amid  the  stress  of  other  duties,  to  elab- 
orate and  develop  more  in  detail  his  philosophical  views,  and 
particularly  his  significant  attempt  to  effect  the  "higher  syn- 
thesis" of  monism  and  pluralism  by  regarding  reality  as  orig- 
inally One,  but,  at  the  same  time,  as  a  One  whose  very  life- 
purpose  it  is  to  acheive,  through  means  of  nature,  a  v/orld  of 
many  spirits,  each  of  whom  is  independent  and  free  and  ab- 
solutely real,  and,  therefore,  capable  of  communing  with 
Him, — a  view  which  he  summed  up  in  the  sentence;  "Nature 
is  the  womb  in  which,  and  evolution  the  process  by  which, 
are  generated  sons  of  God."* 

This  is  a  unique  position  which  must  henceforth  be  reck- 
oned with  by  all  who  would  comprehend  this  all-important 
philosophical  issue. 

*"The  Conceptiou  of  God,"  p.  78. 


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Joseph  Le  Conte  at  Yosemiie.  231 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE  AT  YOSEMITE. 
JUI.Y  4-6,  1901. 

BY   EDWARD   ROBESON   TAYLOR. 

"If  it  were  now  to  die, 
'T  were  now  to  be  most  happy  " 

Othello. 

His  hoary  head,  lustrous  with  all  that's  best 
Of  humankind,  by  fame  immortal  made, 
In  death's  last  agony  he  meetly  laid 
Upon  Yosemite's  titanic  breast. 

For  years  their  mutual  love  had  been  confessed. 
And  when  once  more  her  glories  he  surveyed, 
Such  raptures  in  his  deepest  bosom  played, 
Fate  dared  not  tempt  him  further  to  be  blest. 

Her  beauteous  leaves  of  cedar,  oak  and  pine. 
She  lavish  gave  for  garlands  to  entwine 
His  coffin  fashioned  from  her  teeming  store  ; 

And  'neath  the  reverent  gaze  of  her  great  walls, 
While  throbbed  in  muffled  tones  her  saddened  falls 
His  clay,  star-lighted,  left  her  evermore. 


AN    ESTIMATE    OF    THE  LIFE  WORK   OF   DR. 
JOSEPH   LE   CONTE. 

BY    EUGENE    W.    HILGARD. 

npHE  death  of  Dr.  Joseph  Le  Conte  removes  one  of  the 
-■-  foremost  thinkers  and  scientific  men  of  the  time;  one 
whose  writings  and  modes  of  thought  have  influenced  the  pro- 
gress of  science,  and  of  scientific  as  well  as  popular  opinion, 
throughout  the  civilized  world.  He  was  prominent  in  the 
now  fast-thinning  ranks  of  those  who,  like  Louis  Agassiz,  J. 
D.  Dana  and  Asa  Gray,  in  the  New,  and  L)^ell,  Oersted,  Dar- 
win and  Wallace,  in  the  Old  World,  thought  and  found  it  not 
only  possible  but  necessary  to  be  something  more  than  spe- 


232  The  University  of  Califoryiia  Magaziiie. 

cialists  in  one  domain  of  science,  in  order  to  understand  its 
full  meanings  and  bearings  upon  other  branches,  and  its  place 
in  the  world-plan.  Le  Conte  never  doubted  the  existence  of 
such  a  plan,  and  he  looked  upon  nature  reverently  as  one  part 
of  its  manifestations;  but  without  undervaluing  for  a  moment 
the  other,  the  spiritual  part,  which  is  now  so  commonly  cast 
aside  as  a  mere  "property  of  matter  in  an  advanced  state  of 
evolution;"  while,  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  still  those  who 
claim  to  evolve  its  nature  from  their  inner  consciousness,  in- 
dependently of  observed  phenomena.  1,6  Conte's  early  edu- 
cation and  experience  as  a  physician  laid  the  foundations  of 
the  broad  knowledge  which  later  made  him  equally  at  home 
in  the  purely  phj'sical  sciences  and  in  the  biological  field. 
While  his  geological  writings  are,  perhaps,  best  known  to  the 
American  public,  through  the  wide  use  made  of  his  books  on 
that  subject,  both  in  universities  and  in  the  secondary  schools, 
his  early  and  warm  advocacy  of  the  doctrine  of  evolution  has 
probably  served  most  to  make  him  known  and  appreciated  in 
the  Old  World,  where  he  was  warmly  welcomed  and  honored 
in  scientific  assemblies,  among  the  foremost  men.  His  elec- 
tion to  the  Presidency  of  the  International  Geological  Con- 
gress, held  at  Washington  in  1891,  and  to  that  of  the  Ameri- 
can Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  in  1892,  were 
manifestations  of  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by 
his  scientific  colleagues. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  those  who  undertake  to  generalize 
in  science  are  apt  to  be  unable  to  make  accurate  observations 
themselves.  While  this  is  true  in  some  cases,  it  was  certainly 
otherwise  in  that  of  Le  Conte.  His  scientific  writings  and 
special  papers  show  an  eminent  capacity  for  close  observation; 
yet  his  glance  was  always  upon  the  bearings  of  what  he  saw, 
upon  general  problems  rather  than  upon  the  minor  details  of 
each  field  of  view,  which  he  was  quite  content  to  leave  to  oth- 
ers. At  the  same  time,  he  had  the  true  scientific  spirit  in  the 
absence  of  all  dogmatism,  and  the  readiness  at  all  times  to 
consider   candidly  any  observations   or   opinions    at  variance 


A71  Estimate  of  the  Life  Work  of  Dr.  Joseph  Lc  Conte.  233 

with  his  previous  conclusions.  He  considered  the  cultivation 
of  the  spirit  of  truthfulness,  candor,  and  readiness  to  revise 
one's  opinions  and  conclusions,  as  constituting  one  of  the 
strongest  claims  of  natural  science  as  an  educational  factor; 
in  contradistinction  to  the  acceptance  of  mere  opinions  and 
precedents  that  is  so  common  a  result  of  exclusive  literary  and 
philosophical  study.  The  personal  gentleness  for  which  he 
was  so  well  known  and  beloved,  was  deeply  grounded  in  the 
absence  of  any  claim  to  infallibility  for  himself. 

It  is  not  easy  to  overestimate  the  influence  he  has  exerted 
in  rectifying  the  popular  idea  that  the  doctrine  of  evolution 
necessarily  tends  to  materialism,  if  not  atheism;  a  misconcep- 
tion of  its  true  import  which  is  unfortunately  still  shared  in 
by  the  extremists  both  on  the  scientific  and  religious  side. 
L,e  Conte  held  that  so  far  from  this,  it  inculcates  the  highest 
ideal  of  an  intelligent  world-plan;  and  he  staunchly  maintained 
not  only  its  compatibility  with  Christian  religious  belief,  but 
that  by  elevating  nature  into  the  realm  of  teleologic  thought 
and  aspiration,  it  ofifers  a  much  higher  point  of  view  than 
could  be  derived  from  any  of  the  "orthodox"  views  of  the 
method  of  Creation.  This  part  of  his  influence  will,  perhaps, 
be  most  missed  in  the  present  state  and  tendency  of  scientific 
thought;  particularly  among  the  younger  men  of  science, 
whose  eagerness  to  specialize  prematurely  almost  inevitably 
tends  to  prevent  such  catholicity  of  views  and  encyclopedic 
knowledge  as  characterized  Dr.  L,e  Conte.  Among  the  means 
by  which  he  was  enabled  to  maintain  a  working  acquaintance 
with  the  rapid  progress  in  all  the  sciences,  was  his  habit  of 
conscientiously  keeping  up  a  compact  but  comprehensive 
^Hndex  rerum''  in  which  he  noted  all  the  new  or  otherwise  im- 
portant scientific  and  philosophic  papers  that  came  under  his 
notice;  and  his  ready  reference  to  the  latest  investigations  and 
discussions  of  almost  2,wy  of  the  subjects  in  which  he  was  inter- 
ested— and  there  were  few  in  which  he  was  not — was  a  con- 
stant surprise  to  those  who  consulted  him.  He  thus  avoided 
overloading  his  mind  with  a  multitude  of  details  not  necessary 


234  ^^^^  University  of  California  Magazine. 

to  the  main  questions  involved.  It  is  hoped  that  this  precious 
record  will  be  deposited  in  the  library  of  the  Universitj', 

It  was  Le  Conte  through  whom  the  University  of  California 
first  became  known  to  the  outside  world  as  a  school  and  center 
of  science  on  the  western  border  of  the  continent;  and  for  a 
number  of  years  he  almost  alone  kept  it  in  view  of  the  world 
of  science.  His  presence  and  connection  with  the  University 
was  largely  instrumental  in  attracting  to  it  other  men  who 
otherwise  would  have  hesitated  to  emigrate  from  their  Eastern 
homes  to  what  was  then  the  outskirts  of  civilization;  and  his 
ceaseless  scientific  activity  acted  as  a  strong  stimulus  both  to 
his  colleagues  and  to  the  students  coming  under  his  instruc- 
tion, whose  affection  and  esteem  remained  with  him  through 
life.  He  preferred  this  kind  of  activity  to  the  more  ambitious 
prospects  that  were  many  times  open  to  him;  he  shrank  from 
anything  that  would  force  him  from  the  ideal  world  in  which 
he  lived,  into  active  contact  with  executive  or  administrative 
functions.  His  modesty  and  simplicity  survived,  unscathed, 
the  applause  and  laudations  bestowed  upon  him,  and  his 
strong  will  and  cheerful  disposition  carried  him  up  to  a  ma- 
ture age  in  undiminished  mental  vigor,  despite  an  apparently 
frail  body. 

His  death  brings  heavy  loss  to  the  University  and  to  the 
world  of  thought  at  large.  His  place  cannot  be  filled,  and 
the  statement  that  no  attempt  will  be  made  to  do  so,  is  but  a 
natural  expression  of  the  high  and  exceptional  position  he  oc- 
cupied in  the  world  of  science. 


The  Unpublished  Works  of  Joseph  Le  Cotite.  235 


THE  UNPUBI.ISHED  WORKS  OF  JOSEPH  LE  CONTE. 

BY    MARY    BELI.. 

A  T  the  time  of  Professor  Le  Conte's  death  in  the  Yoseinite 
-^^  Valley,  on  July  6,  1901,  he  had  completed  the  autobi- 
ography of  his  life.  This  work,  consisting  of  probably  two 
hundred  thousand  words,  was  written  in  Georgia  dur- 
ing the  winter  before  his  death.  Professor  Le  Conte 
also  left  a  journal  of  three  months'  personal  experiences  dur- 
ing the  last  days  of  the  Confederacy.  This  is  full  of  exciting 
details  of  the  rescue  of  his  daughter  from  the  Federal  lines 
and  the  burning  of  Columbia.  Besides  these  are  innumerable 
unpublished  lectures,  after-dinner  speeches  and  many  pamph- 
lets that  have  not  yet  been  collected  in  a  permanent  form. 

In  the  autobiography  of  Joseph  Le  Conte,  there  is  a  loug 
account  of  his  Huguenot  ancestry.  Guillaume  Le  Conte  fied 
from  Rouen  after  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  served 
under  William  of  Orange  in  England  and  finally  came  to 
America  in  1698,  settling  near  New  York.  Louis  Le  Conte, 
ten  years  after  graduating  from  Columbia  in  iSoo,  removed 
to  Liberty  Count}',  Georgia,  where  he  had  inherited  a  large 
plantation.  Here  he  married  Ann  Ouarterman,  a  lady  of 
English  Puritan  descent,  and  of  these  parents  Joseph  Le 
Conte  was  born  February  26,  1823.  There  were  seven 
children,  Joseph  being  the  youngest  of  the  four  sons. 

The  best  of  Joseph  Le  Conte's  early  education  was  received 
on  the  large  plantation  where  every  kind  of  industry  was  con- 
ducted, including  weaving,  spinning,  shoemaking,  the  manu- 
facturing of  farm  implements  and  harness  and  the  making  of  fire- 
arms. All  of  the  necessaries,  even  some  of  the  luxuries  of  life  on 
the  old  Southern  plantation,  were  produced  where  the  Le  Conte 
children  could  daily  watch  the  negro  laborers  at  work  under 
the  overseers.     The  boys  frequently  entered  with  interest  into 


236  The   University  of  California  Magazine. 

the  work  of  farming  and  manufacturing.  There  is  a  long 
account,  in  the  autobiography,  of  the  making  of  a  gun  by  one 
of  the  older  brothers  in  the  family. 

Ivike  all  Southern  boys  the  Le  Contes  were  taught  the  use 
of  a  gun,  and  Joseph  was  congratulated  upon  the  killing  of 
his  first  squirrel  at  a  very  early  age.  The  death  of  the  little 
animal,  however,  caused  the  young  hunter  more  grief  than 
pride  in  his  achievement. 

The  father  of  Joseph  Le  Conte  was  a  man  of  great  culture, 
possessed  of  a  fine  scientific  mind.  His  relation  to  his  children 
was  intimate  and  very  beautiful,  and  he  took  great  pains  to 
give  them  opportunities  for  observation  and  the  accumulation 
of  practical  knowledge.  Long  before  the  days  of  kinder- 
gartens, he  instinctively  trained  his  children  by  the  best  of 
those  methods.  His  mother  was  very  musical  and  artistic, 
and  from  her  Joseph  received  the  taste  for  the  beautiful  that 
ennobled  his  science. 

The  Le  Conte  children  daily  walked  to  the  little  country 
school,  followed  by  a  small  negro  with  their  lunch  basket. 
Of  the  teachers  in  this  school  none  influenced  the  life  of  Joseph 
to  any  extent,  save  Alexander  Stephens,  afterwards  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Confederacy  and  governor  of  his  state.  Georgia 
conferred  upon  Stephens  every  possible  honor.  Professor  Le 
Conte  frequently  met  Mr.  Stephens  in  the  South  and  in  Wash- 
ington, and  the  famous  statesman  always  spoke  of  the  great 
influence  that  Louis  Le  Conte  had  exerted  over  him. 

When  Joseph  entered  the  University  of  Georgia,  he  was 
strong,  athletic,  a  good  swimmer,  fond  of  the  hunt  and  of  all 
out  of  door  life.  In  the  University  his  place  was  recognized 
as  that  of  a  distinguished  student,  an  athlete  and  a  debator. 
In  the  Phi  Kappa  Society,  he  took  part  in  many  debates, 
thereby  gaining  that  power  of  expression  that  made  him  suc- 
cessful as  a  public  speaker. 

After  graduating  from  the  University  of  Georgia,  Joseph 
and  his  brother  John  entered  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  in  New  York. 


The  Unpublished  Works  of  Joseph  Le  Conte.  237 

When  twenty-one  years  of  age,  the  year  before  his  degree  as 
Doctor  of  Medicine  was  conferred,  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
made  his  first  noteworthy  geological  excursion.  In  his  autobi- 
ography this  prospecting  and  exploring  expedition  to  the  now 
famous  mining  district  of  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  is 
dwelt  upon  with  keen  pleasure  as  being  the  means  of  leading  the 
young  student  into  the  field  of  science  in  which  he  gained  dis- 
tinction. In  this  expedition,  which  was  the  first  of  its  kind, 
the  travelers  cruised  in  boats  from  the  lower  lakes  to  Keewe- 
naw  Point,  where  they  had  many  adventures  in  the  prospec- 
tors' camp.  From  this  place  Le  Conte  and  his  cousin  went 
with  the  gold  hunters  and  some  Indians  on  a  long  canoe  vo}'- 
age  along  the  south  shore  to  the  present  site  of  Duluth,  and 
thence  to  the  upper  waters  of  the  Mississippi  and  down  to  the 
Falls  of  St.  Anthony.  The  part  of  the  country  along  which 
they  traveled  was  entirely  uninhabited,  and  upon  the  site  of 
the  cities  of  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  not  a  cabin  was  raised. 

Dr.  Le  Conte  began  the  practice  of  medicine  in  Macon, 
Georgia,  in  1845.  In  1847  he  married  Caroline  Elizabeth 
Nisbet.  They  had  four  children.  Two  married  daughters 
are  now  living  in  Georgia,  while  a  daughter  and  a  son  lately 
married  are  living  in  Berkeley  with  Mrs.  Le  Conte. 

In  1850  attracted  by  the  fame  of  Agassiz,  Le  Conte  decided, 
almost  within  a  day,  to  give  up  medicine,  which  had  never 
been  a  congenial  profession  to  him,  and  so  leaving  their  newly 
built  home,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Le  Conte  went  to  Cambridge,  where 
their  second  child  was  born  in  an  old  historic  house  upon  the 
campus  of  Harvard,  This  child  during  subsequent  visits  to 
the  home  of  Agassiz,  became  the  playfellow  ot  the  great  in- 
terpreter of  nature,  and  Professor  Le  Conte  used  to  tell  with 
much  amusement  of  his  discovery  of  the  great  Agassiz  upon 
his  hands  and  knees,  playing  horse  with  the  little  girl.  In 
1857,  with  Agassiz,  Dr.  Le  Conte  made  a  study  of  the  keys 
and  reefs  of  Florida.  Late  ia  this  same  year,  having  received 
the  degree  of  B.  S.  at  Harvard,  he  returned  to  Georgia  and 
was  elected  to    the   chair  of  natural  science    in   Ogelthorpe 


238  The   University  of  Calijornia  Magazi^ie. 

University.  The  following  year  he  resigned  to  accept  the 
chair  of  geology  and  natural  history  in  the  University  of 
Georgia,  in  which  institution  his  brother  John  was  the  pro- 
fessor of  natural  philosophy.  In  1855  the  brothers  both  re- 
signed their  posts  and  accepted  calls  to  South  Carolina  College, 
at  Columbia,  Joseph  to  be  the  professor  of  geology  and  natural 
history  and  John  to  be  professor  of  physics.  In  1862,  the 
college  succombed  to  the  trouble  arising  out  of  the  Civil  War. 

In  the  Journal  Professor  I,e  Conte  said:  — 

"During  the  dark  days  of  the  war,  I  continued  to  write, 
'The  Relation  of  Sociology  to  Biology,'  'School,  College  and 
University,'  'Nature  and  the  Uses  of  Art.'  This  was  certainly 
my  best.  It  was  written  in  '63,  when  the  whole  South  was 
in  an  agony  of  conflict.  The  college  was  suspended.  I  must 
do  something  in  support  of  the  cause  which  absorbed  every 
feeling.  How  could  I  turn  my  scientific  knowledge  to  some 
account  ?  Just  then  a  large  manufactorj'  for  the  production  of 
chemicals  for  the  use  of  the  army  was  established  in  the 
suburbs  of  Columbia.  I  was  asked  to  be  the  chemist.  I  ac- 
cepted and  for  about  eighteen  months  I  was  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  on  a  large  scale  of  many  kinds  of  medicine: 
alcohol,  nitrate  of  silver,  chloroform,  sulphuric  acid,  etc. 
The  whole  army  drew  from  this  laboratory  with  the  ex- 
ceptions of  those  supplies  which  ran  the  blockade.  In 
1864,  without  solicitation,  I  was  appointed  chemist  of 
the  Nitre  and  Mining  Bureau,  with  the  rank  and  pay  of 
Major,  My  business  was  to  test  all  nitrous  earth  brought 
in  from  nitre  caves  or  nitre  beds.  My  laboratory  was  that 
of  the  college.  I  visited  all  of  the  caves  in  South  Carolina, 
Tennessee  and  Alabama  and  the  iron  mines  at  Shelbyville. 
I  found  here  a  Bessemer  furnace,  the  only  one  in  the  Con- 
federate States.  I  returned  to  Columbia  in  September  and 
made  my  report  to  St.  John,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  at  Richmond. 
Meanwhile  Sherman  was  coming  down  from  Chattanooga  to 
Atlanta,  Johnson  in  front,  retreating  step  by  step.  Sherman's 
march  through  Georgia  is  a  matter  of  history.     The  sea  coast 


The  Unpublished  Works  of  Joseph  Le  Conte.  239 

of  the  State  was  invaded  and  Savannah  surrendered.  My 
second  daughter,  Mrs.  R.  M.  Davis,  was  with  her  aunt  within 
the  Federal  lines  upon  my  plantation.  I  felt  it  my  duty  to 
haste  to  her  rescue"  *  *  *  Which  was  accomplished 
after  many  diflSculties  under  a  flag  of  truce.  They  arrived  in 
Columbia  February  7,  1865.  *  =}=  *  "I  vvas  ahead  of 
Sherman  this  time,  but  the  army  was  rapidly  approaching.  I 
could  hear  the  guns  booming  upon  the  other  side  of  the  Con- 
garee  River.  I  now  received  orders  from  Colonel  St.  John  to 
pack  up  all  the  chemical  apparatus,  etc.  I  sent  also  all  of  my 
valuables,  manuscripts,  my  wife's  jewelry,  etc.     *     *     ^ 

"Feb.  18,  1864.  It  was  not  absolutely  certain  that  Columbia 
had  fallen.  We  hoped  not,  or  if  so,  we  could  not  believe  that 
Sherman  would  deliberately  burn  it.  We  had  been  assured 
in  most  positive  manner  by  officers  and  men  of  Wheeler's  com- 
mand that  there  was  no  enemy  in  front  of  us.  What  was  to 
prevent  us  then  from  being  cheerful?  We  were  cheerful. 
The  roads,  it  is  true,  were  still  in  an  awful  condition  so  that 
we  stopped  every  few  hundred  yards;  but  we  continued  to 
creep  on  at  the  rate  of  about  two  miles  an  hour.  But  no  use 
in  hurrying — no  enemy  ahead.  As  usual  my  brother  John 
and  Captain  Green  were  a  little  beyond  in  the  buggy.  In  the 
glory  and  brightness  of  the  morning  I  preferred  to  walk.  My 
nephew  John  joined  me  sometimes  and  sometimes  sat  perched 
high  on  the  trunks  and  bedding-roll  in  the  wagon.  Johnny 
had  been  sick  and  was  not  stong.  The  negro  women  and 
children  were  all  in  the  wagons." 

These  negroes  had  been  brought  up  from  the  plantation  to 
work  at  Columbia  in  the  Nitre  Works  and,  knowing  that  their 
freedom  had  come,  chose  to  go  with  Professor  I^e  Conte. 

"I  was  walking  along  rapidly  and  with  a  springing  step,  a 
little  ahead  of  the  wagon.  I  was  just  passing  a  country  cabin 
about  a  hundred  yards  from  the  road.  Suddenly  I  heard, 
'Stop,  Mister,  stop!'  I  stopped  and  looking  round,  saw  a 
country  woman  rapidly  approaching  from  the  house.  'Where 
are   you  going!'      'To  Allston,'  said  I.      'To  Allstou!     Don't 


240  The  University  of  California  Magazi?ie. 

you  know  the  Yankees  are  crossing  Broad  River  not  more 
than  a  mile  from  here?  My  father  is  expecting  them  at  our 
house  every  minute!'  'Impossible,'  said  I.  'We  met  Wheel- 
ei's  men  not  more  than  a  mile  back  and  they  assured  us  there 
were  no  Yankees  ahead.  They  ought  to  know,  for  they  were 
sent  here  to  watch  them.'  'Wheeler's  men!'  she  retorted, 
'don't  you  see  that  smoke  yonder,  and  there  and  there  and 
yonder!'  She  pointed  rapidly  in  different  directions.  I  looked, 
and  to  my  dismay  I  saw  the  rising  columns  of  the  smoke  of 
burning  houses  on  every  side,  not  more  than  half  a  mile  dis- 
tant. We  were  in  the  midst  of  the  enemy  whom  we  thought 
so  far  away.  Soon  the  popping  of  guns,  with  which  I  had 
become  so  familiar,  commenced.  While  I  was  talking  with 
the  woman,  John  and  Captain  Green  had  gotten  one-fourth  of 
a  mile  ahead." 

Professor  Le  Conte  finally  succeeded  in  warning  them  and 
they  concealed  themselves  and  their  wagons. 

"From  our  hiding  place  we  saw  several  parties  of  Federals 
approach  the  same  house  during  the  day.  About  11  A.  m. 
a  dense  column  of  smoke,  then  the  squealing  of  Confederate 
pigs  and  the  cackling  of  Rebel  hens  and  the  sound  of  human 
voices  in  loud  and  angry  tones,  proclaimed  in  unmistakable 
language  that  the  hen  house  nearest  us  and  only  100  yards 
from  where  we  were  standing,  was  being  raided." 

They  remained  in  hiding  all  the  day.  When  evening  ap- 
proached the  suspense  became  great. 

"In  the  meantime  the  negro  children  were  becoming  clamo- 
rous for  food.  They  had  had  nothing  since  morning.  It  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  make  a  fire  and  cook.  With  many 
misgivings  and  many  directions  for  making  it  as  small  as 
possible  we  consented.  Alas!  Alas!  Those  crying  children, 
low  whimpering  of  the  hungry  mules  as  fodder  was  brought 
to  them  and  more  than  all  that  fire — that  dreadful  fire — would 
surely  betray  us.  As  soon  as  possible  it  was  extinguished 
and  we  went  to  bed.  Anxiety  of  mind  kept  us  all  from  sleep 
until  late.     Gradually  the  hum  of  the  Yankee  camp  ceased 


The  Unpublished  Works  of  Joseph  Le  CoJite.  241 

and  all  was  still  as  death.  I  lay  awake  a  long  time  gazing 
into  the  tranquil  heavens  studded  with  innumerable  stars: 
and  the  huge  oaks  standing  like  giants  with  arms  uplifted  and 
faces  upturned  to  the  sky.  Slowly  the  deep  tranquility  and 
holy  calm  of  nature  transfused  itself  into  my  soul  and  I  sank 
quietly  to  sleep." 

They  were  discovered  the  next  morning,  but  Joseph  Le 
Conte  made  his  escape.  His  brother  John  and  his  nephew 
were  captured. 

"I  was  comparatively  safe  but  my  extreme  anxiety  concern- 
ing my  brother  and  nephew  rendered  it  impossible  for  me  to 
remain  quiet.  Three  or  four  times  in  the  course  of  the  after- 
noon, I  crept  down  to  the  camp;  but  in  every  case  I  found 
stray  Yankees  there  and  had  to  retreat.  My  anxiety  increased 
until  it  became  insupportable.  *  *  >k  i  crept  down  on  my 
hands  and  knees,  closely  observing  at  every  step  until  I  came 
within  ten  steps  of  the  camp  fire.  There  was  no  one  there  but 
one  little  negro  boy  about  eight  years  old.  As  I  rose  and 
walked  toward  the  fire  the  little  fellow  started  up  to  run.  I 
called  to  him  to  stop  and  he  turned  and  recognized  me." 

The  negroes  greeted  Professor  Le  Conte  gladly,  told  of  the 
capture  of  his  brother  and  nephew  and  five  negro  men.  He 
found  that  all  of  his  manuscripts  had  been  burned,  with  all  of 
the  silver,  jewelry  and  other  articles  of  personal  value.  The 
Confederate  supplies  had  been  destroyed  also. 

The  negroes  had  saved  something  for  their  master  to  eat, 
after  which  he  sought  and  found  the  hiding  place  of  Captain 
Green. 

The  hardships  endured  during  the  days  while  Professor  Le 
Conte  and  Captain  Green  were  making  their  way  to  Columbia, 
are  entirely  forgotten  in  his  humorous  account  of  their  narrow 
escapes  from  capture,  their  ragged  condition,  and  their  eager- 
ness to  gain  rest  and  food.  Captain  Green  made  a  good  sub- 
ject for  comedy,  and  the  anecdotes  told  of  him  are  very  laugh- 
able.    Finally  they  reached  their  destination: 

"We  entered   Columbia  and  went  down    Main   street   for 


242  The  University  of  California  Magazine. 

a  mile  and  a  half.  Not  a  house  remaining,  only  the  tall  chim- 
neys standing  gaunt  and  spectral.  The  fire  had  swept  five  or 
six  blocks  wide  right  through  the  heart  of  the  city.  We  met 
not  a  living  soul.  Alas,  how  the  beautiful  city,  the  pride  of 
the  State,  sat  desolate  and  in  ashes! — but  I  had  no  time  to 
moralize.  Onward  still,  with  increasing  speed.  Yonder  stood 
the  brick  walls  of  the  college  campus  and  the  buildings  that 
had  been  saved  from  the  fire  to  use  as  a  hospital  for  both 
Northern  and  Southern  soldiers.  My  own  ivy-covered  home 
was  seen  at  last.  I  resigned  the  carpet-bag  to  my  companion, 
who  was  to  take  rooms  in  the  hospital,  ran  up  the  stone  steps 
three  at  a  leap.  The  door  was  locked.  Rap,  rap,  rap.  Deep 
silence  a  moment,  then  the  quick  pattering  of  little  feet  along 
the  hall.  Then  in  an  instant  open  flew  the  door,  and  they  all 
hung  upon  my  neck  with  mingled  laughter  and  tears.  'Oh, 
father,  you  are  soaking  wet!'  'You  are  in  rags!'  'Your 
pants  are  hanging  in  strings  about  your  feet,  and  look  what  a 
rent  in  your  knees!'  " 

All  of  Professor  Le  Conte's  clothing  had  been  burned,  but 
the  physician  at  the  hospital  secured  a  blue  uniform  for  him, 
which,  according  to  the  necessity  of  the  time,  was  worn  by 
other  Confederates. 

Though  dealing  with  the  last  days  of  the  war,  when  defeat, 
disaster,  loss  of  friends  and  property  made  many  Southerners 
very  bitter,  the  journal  is  utterly  free  from  anything  like 
strong  sectional  feeling.  The  gentleness,  sweetness,  and  hu- 
mor of  his  character  is  more  to  be  seen  in  this  work  than  any 
other  book  of  Le  Conte's.  It  is  filled  with  illustrations  that 
are  exceedingly  comic  in  their  nature,  and  that  indicate  the 
power  for  hitting  ofi"  a  humorous  situation  by  pencil  sketches 
that  show  how  genially  the  scientist  lingered  over  the  laugh- 
able memory  of  awkward  hardships,  adventures,  and  the 
tricks  of  accident.  Captain  Green,  in  his  cloak  improvised 
from  a  blanket,  makes  an  especially  good  subject  for  a  comic 
illustration. 

During  the  reconstruction  period,  the  South  became  almost 


The  Unpublished  Works  of  Joseph  Le  Coyite.  243 

unendurable  to  Southerners  of  pride.  The  loss  of  all  of  their 
property  and  the  unfortunate  condition  of  the  people  was  diffi- 
cult to  bear,  but  the  Legislature,  composed  almost  entirely  of 
negroes,  voted  that  negroes  should  enter  the  University  with- 
out any  qualifications.  At  this  time  the  brothers  John  and 
Joseph  discussed  emigrating  to  Brazil,  or  considered  throwing 
in  their  fortunes  with  those  of  Maximillian  of  Mexico.  The 
organization  of  the  University  of  California,  however,  brought 
them  to  Oakland  in  1868.  The  facts  of  Professor  Le  Conte's 
relation  to  the  University  of  California  are  very  well  known. 
Of  California  he  writes: 

"I  have  said  that  my  intellectual  activity  was  powerfully 
stimulated  by  coming  to  California.  There  are  many  causes 
for  this.  First,  the  reaction  from  the  long  agony  of  the  war. 
Abstract  thought  was  almost  impossible  during  those  anxious 
times  and  in  the  presence  of  its  serious  results  after  the  war. 
Second,  the  splendid  field  for  geological  research  opened  here. 
Third,  contrary  to  my  expectations,  I  found  here  an  excep- 
tionally active,  energetic,  and  intelligent  population.  What 
California  wanted  then  (and  still  wants  to  some  extent)  was 
a  more  thoroughly  organized  society." 

Professor  and  Mrs.  Agassiz  came  to  visit  the  Le  Contes  in 
the  fall  of  1872.  Judge  Tompkins  met  the  great  scientist  on 
this  visit,  and,  through  his  admiration  for  the  master,  estab- 
lished the  Agassiz  Chair  of  Oriental  Languages. 

Professor  Le  Conte  made  ten  visits  to  the  high  Sierras 
and  the  Yosemite  Valley.  The  results  of  these  trips  have 
been  discussed  in  his  scientific  works  and  in  pamphlets,  besides 
the  autobiography.  He  says  of  his  increasing  enjoyment  in 
the  scenery: 

"There  is  one  kind  of  enjoyment  of  beauty  and  grandeur 
heightened  by  novelty,  and  another  enjoyment  of  the  same, 
mellowed  and  hallowed  by  association.  The  one  afi"ects  more 
the  imagination,  the  other  the  heart.  I  had  been  so  often  in 
the  Yosemite  that  I  now  loved  it  for  the  association  of  pre- 
vious delights." 


244  ^'^'^   University  of  Califorjiia  Magazine. 

Professor  L,e  Conte's  most  important  discoveries  in  science 
are,  summed  up  in  the  following  paragraph,  from  Professor 
Lawson's  article  in  Science  : 

"He  announced  the  age  and  character  of  the  Cascade  Moun- 
tains and  their  relation  to  the  great  Columbia  lava  flood;  he 
described  the  ancient  glaciers  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  and  was 
among  the  first  to  recognize  the  post-Tertiary  elevation  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada,  as  shown  by  the  river  beds.  His  studies  on 
mountain  structure  led  him  to  important  generalization  on  the 
origin  of  mountains  in  general,  and  he  became  one  of  the 
chief  exponents  of  the  'contractional  theory'  of  mountain 
building.  His  studies  on  ore  deposition  at  Steamboat  Springs, 
Nevada,  and  Sulphur  Bank,  California,  led  him  to  a  discussion 
of  vein  formation  in  general;  and  his  classification  of  ore  de- 
posits has  been  widely  recognized  as  resting  on  a  sound  basis, 
and  is  not  displaced  in  its  essential  features  by  the  most  recent 
attempts  in  the  same  direction.  He  also  made  important  con- 
tributions to  the  subjects  of  seismology  and  coral  growth  in 
its  geological  aspects." 

lye  Conte's  important  works  are  called  "Sight,"  "The  Ele- 
ments of  Geology,"  the  "Compend  of  Geology,"  "Religion 
and  Science,"  and  "Kvolution  and  Its  Relation  to  Religious 
Thought." 

Professor  Le  Conte  was  made  a  member  of  the  National 
Academy  of  Sciences,  Associate  Fellow  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  corresponding  member  of  the 
New  York  Academy  of  Sciences,  member  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society,  Fellow  of  the  American  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science  and  past  president  of  the 
same,  Fellow  of  the  Geological  Society  of  America  and  past 
president  of  the  same,  life  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences, member  of  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History, 
honorary  member  of  the  Brooklyn  Ethical  Association,  mem- 
ber of  the  Iowa  Academy  of  Sciences,  also  of  the  Davenport 
Academy  of  Sciences,  member  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Mining  Engineers,  member  of  the  National  Geographical  So- 


The  Unpublished  Works  of  Joseph  Le  Conte.  245 

cieiy,  member  of  the  International  Geological  Congress  atid 
once  vice-president  of  the  same,  member  of  the  California 
State  Medical  Society,  honorary  member  of  the  South  Caro- 
lina State  Medical  Society.  He  was  also  associated  with  the 
editorship  of  the  Jourjial  op  Geology  and  Science. 

Professor  Le  Conte's  articles  and  books  have  been  trans- 
lated into  other  languages,  and  letters  and  tributes  came  to 
hira  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  Those  expressions  of  love 
and  veneration  that  he  most  appreciated  came,  however,  from 
his  classes.  His  students  were  his  children,  his  comrades, 
and  his  friends.  As  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  University,  his 
family  is  the  largest  in  the  State,  numbering  many  hundreds, 
and  these  boys  and  girls  speak  his  name  reverently  in  their 
homes,  where  the  influence  of  his  cheerful,  simple,  noble 
character  has  made  itself  felt.  He  was  a  great  scientist,  but 
a  greater  man.  In  his  ideal  home  life  and  in  all  of  his  rela- 
tions with  society  he  was  the  courtly  gentleman  and  the 
charming  companion.  His  book  on  "Evolution  and  Its  Re- 
lation to  Religious  Thought"  has  done  more  toward  settling 
the  doubts  and  calming  the  troubled  souls  of  the  young  than 
many  volumes  of  sermons  preached  by  a  less  inspired  man. 

Since  '96,  the  twenty-sixth  of  February  has  been  celebrated 
by  the  students  of  the  University'  in  a  way  that  inadequately 
expressed  their  veneration  for  the  great  teacher.  His  long 
desk  was  completely  covered  with  flowers,  there  was  always 
some  appropriate  gift  made  to  him,  and  the  speech  of  present- 
ation by  a  well-known  student  was  always  received  in  a  gra- 
cious manner  by  Professor  Le  Coute.  On  his  last  birthday  he 
was  in  Georgia,  and  he  thought  the  day  would  pass  unno- 
ticed by  the  students,  but  as  he  was  sitting  down  to  his  birth- 
day dinner  with  his  wife,  his  children,  his  grandchildren,  and 
his  great-grandchildren,  in  his  native  State,  a  telegram  came 
from  the  students  of  the  University  of  his  adopted  vState,  con- 
gratulating him  upon  the  rich,  complete  years  of  his  H.^e. 
Professor  Le  Conte  was  intensely  gratified  at  the  arrival  of  the 
telegram,  but  his  surprise  was  great,  on  reaching  Berkeley,  to 


246  The  U?iiversity  of  California  Magazine. 

jBnd  that  the  usual  gift  had  been  made,  in  spite  of  his  absence, 
and  a  beautiful  picture  had  been  sent  to  his  home  with  the 
warm  greetings  of  the  students.  His  autobiography  closes 
with  an  account  of  this  happy  home-coming,  the  final  words 
being  : 

"Such  evidences  of  affection  from  the  students,  the  faculty, 
the  regents,  and  the  people  of  California,  have  endeared  the 
University  and  the  people  to  me.  There  is  no  place  like 
California." 


A    Tribute.  247 


A   TRIBUTE. 

BY    DARWIN  ROOT,  '02. 

The  dear  old  man  has  gone  and  now  no  more 
The  mountains  whisper  in  his  listening  ear 
The  secrets  of  their  inner  life.     They  rear 
Their  white-crowned  heads  and  scan  in  vain  the  shore 
Of  Time  where  he  has  gleaned  in  years  before 
The  mysteries  of  the  changing  sands,  and  clear 
And  open  laid  them  as  a  faithful  seer 
On  Truth's  broad  altar.     Now  the  voice  of  yore 
Is  stilled,  the  face  is  gone,  but  ne'er  to  die 
A  memory  lives;  his  voice  and  face  the  same 
As  in  the  bygone  days  may  calm  our  strife, 
And  e'en  in  memory  may  his  beaming  eye 
E'er  dissipate  each  sordid  selfish  aim 
And  light  us  to  the  mountain  tops  of  Life. 


The    University    of    Lalifornia 


M 


agazme 


(OfBcial  Organ  of  the  Alumni  Association  and  of  the  Council  of  the 
Associated  Alumni.) 


PUBLISHED   MONTHLY    DURING   THE   COLLEGE    YEAR 


Counsellors — Professors  Wm.  Carey  Jones  and  Thomas  R.  Bacon. 

£'rflV0f-/«-C/i7«/— WiNFIELD    DORN,  '02. 

Associate  Edilors—yiiss  Katherine  F.  Smith,  '02;  Miss  Lucile  Graves,  '03; 
ROBT.  W.  Ritchie,  '02;  Benj.  W.  Reed,  '02;  John  A.  Brev.'er,  '03;  Roger  C.  Chick- 
ering,  '04;  J.  Raymond  Carter,  '02  (Staff  Artist). 

Alumni  Coniributors—PROFE&SOK  Wm.  E.  Ritter  President  of  the  Associated 
Alumni;  Charles  S.  Greene,  President  of  the  Alumni  Association;  Miss  Emma 
Hefty,  Secretary  of  the  Associated  Alumni  ;  James  Sutton,  Secretary  of  the 
Alumni  Association. 

Business  Manager — Bryan  Bell,  '03; 


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WE  staud  silent  before  the  swish  of  the  scythe  of  Time.  A 
life  has  gone  out  of  our  midst  for  which  nothing  can 
compensate.  How  much  the  influence,  the  personality,  the 
sacrifice,  of  Joseph  Le  Conte  has  contributed  to  the  University 
can  never  be  measured  by  material  or  intellectual  standards. 
It  reaches  as  deep  as  feeling  and  as  high  as  thought. 

lyife  hurries  on, — but  the  influence  of  a  great  personality  is 
for  eternity.  Unconsciously  we  are  feeling  the  permeating  in- 
fluence of  the  life  of  Jcseph  Le   Conte,— and  this   spirit  will 


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